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Nierese Centauri Tribes
Across the vast, untamed wilderness of Nieron, there aren't many settlements outside of the established nations. It's not like in Ameros, where people are always eager to try and set up towns on small patches of farmable land or near water deposits. The plantlife is just too destructive to let people set up towns wherever they like, and sweep-and-burn campaigns to clear space for new towns is quite costly. About the only successful groups outside of the established countries are the Centauri Dreamstalker tribes. Dreamstalker is a colloquialism used to refer to eight different groups which sprang up after the original Dreamstalkers were disbanded a couple hundred years ago by their former chief, Alexander 'Raging-Wyvern' Burton, after a protracted conflict with both Alastoska and the Balkanir kingdom. The tribe ultimately surrendered to the Balks, who offered the most reasonable demands- disband and never again trespass into Balkaniri territory. So the tribe split off and formed new groups, and moved farther south, well away from the Confederacy's borders- and they've made certain to clearly establish what territories are theirs. Along the equatorial belt- which is comprised mostly of the Jihalan Desert- the wastes and badlands are dominated by the Ashfoot, Sandrunner, Springleaf, and Starwatch tribes. Each group shares the land and the resources they gather from it equally, helping each other in whatever fashion is necessary at the moment to ensure mutual survival while keeping safe their territories. How they've managed to do this is something of a mystery- the Jihalas don't have any rivers or streams, no known oasises, and the only aquifers below the sands are full of salt, silt, and burrowing creatures. Acquiring potable water out there is almost impossible without some method of harvesting early morning preciptation- which would require enormous efforts to provide water for hundreds of thousands of people- or considerable amounts of magic. Despite this, not only do they thrive, but they have recently begun building permanent settlements at strategic locations, setting up trade stations, supply depots, and airstrips for travelers and fellow Centauri. Many wonder if they're planning to formalize their claim to the Jihalas and set themselves up as a proper nation; a potentiality that has drawn no small amount of interest from the Brahilans and a number of corporate powers in the Jade Confederacy. But if they are, the Centauri aren't telling- in fact, they aren't really telling anyone anything. Every question launched at them has been answered with varying responses to the tune of "that's our business, not yours." South of the Jihalan Deserts, but northwest of Brahilo, the Tekkani Rainforest region is claimed (as much as such a place can be) by the Whispering Breeze and Silent Owl tribes. The Tekkani is chock full of large, aggressive predatory animals- who aren't often picky about eating humanoids- so the local Centauri stick to the tops of the massive Hassa trees that reach nearly five hundred feet in height, and build small treeforts connected by rope bridges and ladders between them. It's difficult for either tribe to get a lot accomplished because of the creatures that lurk on the ground, but they are able to farm quite a bit of food, which- with transport choppers from the tribes in the Jihalas- they can trade for the necessities that are otherwise impossible to get as a result of their large, noisy, hungry neighbors on the ground. The lack of production abilities because of their location is theorized to be the reason that the Tekkani Centauri are the ones who most closely resemble the disbanded Dreamstalkers- most of their efforts are geared towards studying the Planes and the entities that come from them, communing with spirits, and working to unlock the powers of the Mind instead of following the more traditional paths of Nature magic. The last two groups, the Greyrock and Tunnel-Lurkers, live below the surface of Nieron. Like Telo-Haljr, Serisia had a massive sewer network that went all across the city- but Serisia's went all across the continent. The whole of the Serisian pipe network was designed to allow Serisia to support all of Nieron by tapping directly into the Lennus Ocean. A lot of those networks have fallen into disuse and collapsed, but hundreds of thousands of miles of pipes criss-cross all over Nieron, almost a mile underground, and the Greyrocks and Tunnel-Lurkers claim dominion over them. Despite seeing little sunlight, the fact that the pipes aren't used to transport sewage anymore means that they've become swampy havens to all sorts of creatures and, supposedly, Heretical cults. The two tribes spend most of their time underground, keeping as much of the pipelines clean as they can so that they can tap into the billions of gallons of water- which, many believe, are where the Jihalan tribes surely must get their drinking water- and prevent any hostile groups or packs from getting too strong and raising Hell on the surface, figuratively or literally. Most of the Centauri live like the fleetbound sorts on Uwibami, on small flotillas composed of craft specifically designed to handle traveling through the pipelines- which, by necessity, were often twice as large as the ones in Telo-Haljr. Only the Greyrocks bother making any permanent settlements, the small towns of Antmeet (so named because the Centauri that live there rely heavily on tame giant ants), Nickel Lake (a collapsed dead-end pipeline which leads into a mine rich in nickel), and Mossy Rock, but these are mostly just stations where the local Centauri can refuel their flotillas, safely construct goods, and communicate with the outside world. Nieron Back to Main Page